The Cat’s Pajamas and Other Stories

James Morrow

Terminal baptism, erotic performance art, and voodoo economics with actual voodoo. The Cat’s Pajamas is a provocative collection of satiric short fiction from Nebula and World Fantasy award–winning author James Morrow.

The Cat’s Pajamas and Other Stories

by James Morrow

An integrity gene is harvested from the brain of an unwilling schoolteacher. Christopher Columbus lands in modern-day Manhattan. John Wayne seeks treatment from a cinematic oncologist. Sports fans save the universe every day.

The Cat’s Pajamas is a provocative collection of satiric short fiction from Nebula and World Fantasy award–winning author James Morrow. Included is “Auspicious Eggs,” in which ritual procreation and compulsory abortion are mandated by the Catholic Church. Two original pieces were written specifically for The Cat’s Pajamas: the play “Come Back, Dr. Sarcophagus,” and the short story “Fucking Justice.”

“Arguably SF’s reigning master of satire, Morrow has already blessed the genre with two previous volumes of short fiction and the monumental Godhead trilogy, in which a deceased Jehovah literally falls to Earth. His latest collection demonstrates that his rapier wit has lost none of its edge as it encompasses twisted scenarios ranging from Martians invading Central Park to having the fates of other worlds rest upon the scores of American football games. In ‘Auspicious Eggs,’ global warming forces the Catholic Church to enact rites of ‘terminal baptism,’ in which the souls of infants deemed infertile are immediately sent heavenward. In a shorter tale, King Kong and Godzilla pay their respects to 9/11 victims. During the title story, a crazed genetic scientist kidnaps a hapless do-gooder and harvests his altruism genes. All the stories manifest Morrow’s penchant for exploring the dark underbelly of technological promise and extracting quirky moral conundrums. Morrow’s fans will revel, and first-time readers may find his grim humor making fans of them, too.”
—Booklist

James Morrow is the author of the World Fantasy Award–winning Towing Jehovah, the New York Times Notable Book Blameless in Abaddon, the Nebula Award–winning Bible Stories for Adults, and the Theodore Sturgeon Award–winning Shambling Towards Hiroshima. A master of satiric and the surreal, he has enjoyed comparison with Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut, and John Updike. He has a collection of Lionel trains and a rapidly growing library of DVDs of questionable taste.

“Morrow is the only author who comes close to Vonnegut’s caliber. Like Vonnegut, Morrow shrouds his work in science fiction, but the real story is always man’s infinite capacities for love and for evil.”
—Paul Constant, The Stranger

“…witty, playful…reminiscent of Watchmen….”
—Strange Horizons

“…a reminder that for all the shenanigans in his plots, [James Morrow is] first and foremost just a great writer.”
—Bookgasm

“In the tradition of Dr. Strangelove…even as you’re laughing, you’re not sure you should be.”
—Omnivoracious.com

“James Morrow’s bizarrely funny new book Shambling Towards Hiroshima turns the usual Godzilla paradigm on its head: Instead of being inspired by the horrors of nuclear war, Godzilla is its herald.”
—io9.com

“It takes a special sort of person to…imagine a real-world basis for Godzilla….”
—John Scalzi, The Big Idea

Auspicious Eggs
Come Back, Dr. Sarcophagus
Director’s Cut Fucking Justice
Isabella of Castile Answers Her Mail
Martyrs of the Upshot Knothole
The Cat’s Pajamas
The Eye That Never Blinks
The Fate of Nations
The War of the Worldviews
The Wisdom of the Skin
The Zombies of Montrose